Refrigeration



W. 'H. KITTO REFRIGERATION Oct; .29, 194

Filed Feb. 26, 1938 INVAENTOR M11121 12 [(2110 ATTORNEY Patented Oct. 29, 1946 2,410,292 REFRIGERATION William H. Kitto, Canton, Ohio, assignor to The Hoover Company, North Canton, Ohio, 2:. corporation of Ohio Application February 26, 1938, Serial No. 192,723

12 Claims.

This invention relates to refrigeration and more particularly to a means for removing ice cubes from domestic refrigerator trays.

In the past it has been customary to remove ice cubes from domestic refrigerator trays by melting the cubes loose from the trays or by means of a linkage mechanism which severed the bonds between the cube and the walls of the individual cube compartments. However, much ice was lost by the method of melting the ice cubes free from the ice cube tray, and the cubes so released were not only reduced in size, but they had a slick wet surface. Previous mechanical devices designed to release ice cubes from the walls of the ice cube compartment have not been satisfactory by reason of the fact that they do not loosen the cube completely and require excessive forces or impractical complex mechanisms to achieve the desired end.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a mechanism which will readily and positively release ice cubes from the surrounding walls of the ice cube compartment without requiring the operator to apply excessive forces and which may be embodied in a simple, easily manufactured mechanism.

According to the invention, there is provided an ice tray within which rests a grid forming a plurality of ice cube compartments. Ice cubes are released from each compartment by inducing a relative movement between the walls of the compartment and the cube contained therein. More specifically, a simple mechanical mechanism is provided which operates to move some of the walls of the ice cube compartment relatively to the other walls thereof whereby the bond between the ice cube and the walls of the compartment is broken. In one form of the invention, movement of one wall of each ice cube compartment induces a movement of the ice cube relative to another wall of the compartment and one of the Walls of the compartment is designed to force the cube to move relatively to the moving wall in order that the cube may be freed completely from every wall to which it adheres.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an ice cube release mechanism in which the total force applied to the release mechanism is applied directly and entirely to individual groups of ice cubes through a leverage mechanism, and in which a plurality of ice cubes are released progressively by a single movement as force is contlnuously applied to the releasing mechanism whereby the total force applied at any given instant need only be equal to that necessary to be applied to the mechanism to release a single group of ice cubes.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an ice cube release mechanism characterized by the fact that ice cubes are progressively released as a manual lever is moved through its range of movement, and the entire grid is then moved relatively to the tray by the same movement.

It is another object of the invention to provide an ice cube release mechanism which simultaneously imparts to the cube to be released movement in directions at angles each to the other.

It is another object of the invention to provide an ice tray release mechanism in which the ice cubes to be released are moved in a direction to separate the same entirely from the ice tray as they are being released.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an ice cube release mechanism which simultaneously moves an ice cube to be released into a zone having a volume greater than the volume of the ice cube and simultaneously imparts movement to the ice cube in such large volume zone.

It is a further object ofthe invention to provide an ice cube release mechanism characterized by the fact; that the ice cube is caused to move in a generally vertical direction whil riding along the surface of a plane inclined slightly from the vertical.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an ice cube tray release mechanism which simultaneously applies a Wedging action to one or more faces of the ice cube undergoing release.

Other objects of the invention will become apparent as the description proceeds when taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure l is a perspective view, partly broken away, of an embodiment of the invention, and

Figure 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the device shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary view illustrating a m difmationl.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary view illustrating another modification.

The embodiment of the invention herein disclosed comprises a metal ice tray ill adapted to be inserted in the freezing compartmentv of a domestic refrigerator, and is provided with a.

bottom wall H, front and rear walls 12 and. I3, respectively, and side walls i l. The front and sidewalls of the tray are inclined upwardly and outwardly and terminate in a laterally outwardly extending rim [5.

Removably disposed in the tray I is a grid it which includes a central upwardly and outwardly tapered partition H and transverse plates l8, I9, 29 and 2 l. The transverse plates and center partition cooperates with the tray to form pairs of ice cube chambers 22, 23, 24, 2'5 and 28 on opposite sides of the partition H. Partition I! is provided with slots 21 to loosely and slidably receive the unbroken portions of the transverse plates, the latter being provided with slots at their lower ends for loosely and slidably receiving the unbroken portions of the partition l1, whereby the transverse plates and the partition may be moved with respect to each other.

As shown at 2B in Figure 1, the upwardly and outwardly tapered partition is undercut to receive the portions of the transverse plates adjacent their upwardly extending slots. In Figure 2 the transverse plates I8, i9, 29 and 2| are broken away to show the cooperation of these plates with their raising means to be later described. The central partition I1 is also shown partly broken away adjacent the transverse plate 28 to show how the slots of the central partition and transverse plates cooperate. As can be seen from this figure, the partition I! extends from end to end of the tray below the slots 21.

Each transverse plate is provided at its lower end with a flange or shelf 30 extending into the ice cube chambers 22, 23, 24. and 25. while at the lower end of the center partition I! is a flange 3! extending into the ice cube chambers 26 at the opposite sides of the partition IT. The shelves 3!) and 3| operate to support and lift the ice cubes in their respective chambers when the transverse plates are raised with respect to the tray and center partition. In order to shear the ice cubes from the transverse plates, the center partition I1 is tapered, that is, its upper portion 32 is wider than its lower portion 33, and operates to force the ice cubes towards the side walls of the tray to free the ice cubes from the transverse plates as the latter lifts the ice cubes.

Disposed along the upper portion of the partition I! are spaced aligned projections 35, each provided with a circular bore 38 in which is rotatably mounted a shaft 31 of hexagonal cross section extending throughout the length of the tray. Arranged between the projections or bearings 35 and rigidly secured to the shaft 31 are cams 38 which are disposed for engagement with the upper defining edges 39 of the openings 48 provided in the transverse plates, so as to raise the latter with respect to the partition I! and the tray l8.

Referring to Figure 2 it will be noted that the upper defining edge 39 of the opening 40 in the transverse plate l8 normally rests upon its cam 38, and the upper definin edges 39 of the openings 49 in the remaining transverse plates are spaced progressively a greater distance from their respective cams 38 from the front to the rear of the tray.

Attached to the rear end of the shaft 31 is a cam 41 staggered with respect to the cams 38 and is adapted to engage a cam seat 42 formed by punching out a portion of the rear wall 13 of the tray Ill. The shaft 3! and cams 38 and 4| are rotated by a lever 43 secured to the forward end of the shaft 31. Rotation of the lever 43 through a vertical arc of substantially 180 causes the cams 38 to successively engage the upper defining edges 39 of the openings in the transverse plates to raise the latter singly and in succession from the front to the rear of the tray, and thereafter the cam 4| engages the cam seat 42 to raise the grid it. The grid assembly is removably supported in the tray by means of open-topped bear- 5 ings 45 formed in the end walls of the tray to accommodate a lateral extension 48 on the lever 43 and a portion 41 of the rearmost projection 35 on the center partition I1.

In order to loosen the ice cubes from the grid and tray, the lever 43 is rotated through a vertical arc of substantially 186 until it rests on the rim I5 of the side wall of the tray opposite to the position shown in Figure 1. Rotation of the lever 43 causes the cam 38 at the front of the tray to engage the upper defining edge 39 of the opening 48 in the transverse plate l8 and raises the latter with respect to the partition I! and the tray 50. Raising the transverse plate 18 causes the flange 33 to lift the ice cubes in the chambers 22, 22 to free the ice cubes from the adjacent walls of the tray. As the ice cubes in the chambers 22, 22 are lifted they are moved with respect to the outwardly and upwardly tapered wall of the center partition I1, and due to this tapered wall the ice cubes are forced toward the side walls I4 of the tray, whereby they are sheared away from the transverse plate l8. Every surface of the ice cubes in the chambers 22, 22 which is in contact with any part of the tray or grid assembly is accordingly loosened from the grid and tray and supported on the flanges 30, 30 on the transverse plate l8. Continued rotation of the lever 43 causes the next cam 38 to engage the upper defining edge 39 of the opening 40 in the transverse plate l9 to raise the latter with respect to the center partition I! and the tray, to thereby break the bonds of the ice cubes in the chambers 23, 23 from the grid and tray. Upon further rotation of the lever 43, the ice cubes in the chambers 24 and 25 will be released in succession.

This release of the ice cubes in pairs is accomplished due to the fact that the cams 38 come into engagement with their respective 45 transverse plates in succession from the front to the rear of the tray, and accordingly very slight manual effort is required to rotate the lever 43 to completely release the ice cubes from the' seat 42 which raises the center partition I! with respect to the tray. Raising the partition I! causes the flanges 3| to lift and loosen the ice :0 cubes in the chambers 26, 26 from the tray l0,

and the ice cubes will cling to the center partition I! and be supported on the flanges 3! from which they can be easily removed by the operator. The operator may then remove the grid from the tray, and the ice cubes in the chambers 23, 24, 25 and 26 will be supported on their respective flanges, whereby the grid when re moved from the tray also provides a holder for the ice cubes which may be removed from the grid as needed.

A modified form of transverse plate I 0| is illustrated in Figure 3. This plate is identical with the plates l8 to 2! except that the flange 30 has been eliminated and one face of the plate is 7 tapered forwardly and downwardly; that is, the

rear faces I02 of the transverse plates are substantially vertical but the bottom portions I03 of the plates are appreciably wider than the top portions I'M thereof.

This form of the invention operates similarly to the form first described except that the inclined faces of the transverse plates not only lift the ice cubes vertically, but they tend to shear or twist the cubes with respect to the other walls of the ice cube chambers including the tapered portions of the center partition. Therefore, there are forces tending to move the cubes simultaneously in three directions when the manual lever 43 is rotated. These forces are as follows: Vertical or lifting forces applied by the inclined faces of the transverse plates; forwardly (of the tray) directed forces applied by the inclined faces of the transverse plates; laterally directed forces applied by the inclined faces of the center partition. These forces insure a complete and easy separation of the ice cubes and the walls of the ice cube compartments.

If desired, the ice cube supports 3| on the center partition I! may be removed and the transverse plate 2| provided with flanges 30 that extend into the ice-cube chambers 25 and 26, as shown in Figure 4, whereby upon raising the transverse plate 2|, the ice cubes in the chambers 25 and 26 will be loosened from the tray, center partition and transverse plates.

Although I have shown the upper defining edges 39 of the openings 46 in the transverse plates staggered with respect to the cams 38, they can be arranged in alignment and the cams 38 staggered with respect to each other, or the cams 38 may be provided with different cam surfaces, to raise the transverse plates one by one in succession from the front to the rear of the tray.

The ice cube release mechanism herein disclosed provides a means whereby a moving wall of each ic cube compartment moves the cube therewith into a portion of the compartment having a, greater volume and cross-sectional area than that portion originally occupied by the ice cube. As the ice cube is moved into the zone of large volume, it is caused to shift within such zone in a direction at an angle to its original direction Of movement and relatively to the moving wall whereby to free the cube from that moving wall. The force moving the cube in one direction is applied through a mechanical force transmitting mechanism having a large mechanical advantage. The force moving the cube in the other direction is applied by moving the cube along the surface of an inclined plane which again has a large mechanical advantage. The individual pairs of cubes and the grid are released from the tray by force applied to a manual lever which moves in a plane but the various pairs of cubes and the grid are released separately and progressively as the manual lever reaches different points in its range of movement. These features combine to produce an ice cube release mechanism which may be operated to release completely the ice cubes and the grid by a single movement of a lever by the operator and with a minimum instantaneous application of force to the lever.

If desired, the grid may be released from the tray prior to release of the individual ice cubes by changing the relative positions of the cams 4| and 38. Also the cam 4! may be placed at the forward portion of the ice tray if desired.

While I have illustrated and described only one embodiment of my invention, it is to be under- 6 stood that this embodiment is to be taken as illustrative. only and not in a limiting sense. I do not wish to be limited to the structure shown but to include all equivalent variations thereof except as limited by the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A removable grid for forming ice cubes in an ice tray including a partition and a plurality of transverse plates movable with respect to said partition, said transverse plates having cam engaging surfaces lying in successively higher planes, a cam associated with each of said cam surfaces, and means operable to bring said cams into engagement with said cam surfaces for moving said transverse plates with respect to said partition.

2. A removable grid for forming ice cubes in an ice tray including a partition and a plurality of transverse plates movable with respect to said partition, at least certain of said transverse plates having means to support ice cubes, said transverse plates having cam surfaces, a cam for each of said cam surfaces, and means operable to bring first one and then another of said cams into engagement with said cam surfaces to raise said transverse plates and ice supporting means with respect to said partition to loosen ice cubes from said partition.

8. An ice tray and an ice 'cube forming grid therefor, said grid comprising a longitudinal plate and a plurality of transverse plates associated therewith and cooperating with one another and said tray to form ice molds, and manually controlled lever means journaled on said tray and operable upon rotation thereof to raise said transverse partitions in a predetermined sequence whereby the operating force on said manual means is appli d solely to the breaking of the ice bonds between certain of the partitions and certain of the ice cubes at any given instant.

4. In combination with an ice tray, an ice cube forming grid comprising an elongated partition and a plurality of shorter spaced apart partitions disposed crosswise of and freely movable in a vertical direction with respect to said elongated partition, and lever means having a control handle movable in a continuous manner in substantially the same plane to move first one of said cross partitions and then another to free the ice cubes therefrom and to raise all of said partitions simultaneously with respect to said tray.

5. In liquid congealing apparatus, the combination of a pan member, a metallic grid structure removably positioned therein for dividing the pan member into a plurality of cells for containing ice cubes, said grid structure including a central longitudinal wall member and longitudinally spaced elements each independently vertically movable with respect to said longitudinal member, means on the grid structure for raising the grid structure from the pan member and means carried by said grid structure for actuating the movable elements to break the bond between the ice cubes and the grid structure, said last mentioned means being operable to afford movement of said movable elements to effect separation of less than the entire number of the entire number of ice cubes from the grid structure.

6. The combination with a tray adapted to contain a substance to be frozen, of a grid structure normally positioned in the tray and having a longitudinal wall and a plurality of transverse walls dividing the interior of the tray into a plu rality of compartments, means carried by said grid and disposed in a position to exert a force against the tray to thereby move the grid together with. frozen substance thereon relative to the tray,- and means associated with and operable by said first named means for engaging and moving each of said transverse walls vertically relative to the longitudinal wall progressively from one end to the other end of the grid structure to thereby release the frozen substance therefrom.

7. A freezing apparatus for liquids comprising in combination, a tray having a grid structure removably disposed therein, said grid structure including a vertically disposed longitudinal wall and a plurality of vertically disposed single walls extending transversely to said longitudinal wall in spaced apart relation along the length thereof and dividing the tray into a plurality of ice block compartments, said single transverse walls being vertically movably attached to said grid structure, means on the grid structure for elevating said grid structure together with ice blocks thereon relative to the tray, and means for moving said transverse walls vertically relative to said longitudinal wall progressively from one portion to another portion of said grid structure to break the bond between the ice blocks and said grid walls.

8. A freezing apparatus for liquids comprising in combination, a tray having a grid structure removably disposed therein, said grid structure including a longitudinal wall and a plurality of walls extending transversely to said longitudinal wall in spaced apart relation along the length thereof and dividing the interior of the tray into a plurality of ice block compartments, means for elevating said grid structure together with ice blocks thereon relative to the tray, means lying over said longitudinal wall and having a portion thereof engageable with each of said transverse walls adjacent the point of intersection of said Walls for movably securing the transverse walls to the grid structure, and means connecting said two means together and being so constructed and arranged that operation of said first named means actuates said second named means to move said transverse walls vertically relative to said longitudinal wall progressively from one end to the other end of said grid structure to break the bond between the ice blocks and said grid walls.

8 9. In a device of the character described, a tray, a longitudinal wall having a plurality of sleeves on its upper edge, a plurality of transverse walls, each having an opening therethrough adjecent its upper edge, said walls being loosely mortised in one another, a shaft having straight portions and offset portions, said shaft extending through said sleeves and openings, with said straight portions in the sleeves and said offset portions in said opening, a lever for actuating said shaft, said lever being connected to said shaft at one end thereof and adapted, when being moved, to lift said shaft and walls as a unit and, to rotate said shaft to move said transverse walls relative to' the longitudinal wall.

10. In combination with a freezing tray, a grid having a longitudinal partition removably supported therein, a series of transverse partitions vertically movably carried by the longitudinal partition and extending some distance above the same, and an operating bar carried by the grid and adapted to extend through openings in said extensions and adapted to vertically and successively move said transverse partitions.

11. In combination with a freezing tray, a grid having a longitudinal partition removably supported therein, a series of transverse partitions vertically movably carried by the longitudinal partition and extending some distance above the same, aligned openings in said transverse partitions above the longitudinal partition, and an operating bar adapted to be supported by the longitudinal partition and adapted to extend through the openings in the transverse partitions, said bar being adapted to vertically move the transverse partitions by a rotary motion thereof.

12. In combination, an ice tray for a domestic refrigerator, a grid assembly positioned therein to form a plurality of compartments, said grid assembly comprising a longitudinal grid member and a plurality of lateral grid members interfitted therewith along the length thereof for movement in a vertical direction thereto, a rotatable shaft associated with said grid assembly, said shaft having means thereon for moving said lateral gridmembers vertically with respect to said longitudinal grid member.

WILLIAM H. KITTO. 

